Disc dispensing device, tubular container for use in such a disc dispensing device and method of dispensing discs

ABSTRACT

Disc dispensing device for dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics onto a culture dish. The device comprises a stationary support on which a magazine is removably mounted. The magazine holds a plurality of tubular containers each containing a stack of discs to be dispensed. A moving means moves one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position. From the pick-up position a transfer means picks up said one disc and transfers it to the culture dish where it is dispensed. The removable culture dish is supported by a moveable carriage which is mounted on the stationary support. The carriage is moveable relative to the magazine from a starting position to an operating position and vice versa. Control means control the operation of the device. The plurality of tubular containers is rotatable around a magazine centre under control of the control means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a disc dispensing device for dispensing discsimpregnated with antibiotics onto a culture dish, said disc dispensingdevice comprising: a stationary support; a magazine removably mounted onthe stationary support, said magazine being arranged for holding aplurality of tubular containers, each tubular container being adaptedfor containing a stack of discs to be dispensed; moving means for movingone disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position;transfer means for picking up said one disc from the pick-up position,for transferring said one disc to the culture dish and for dispensingsaid one disc onto the culture dish; a moveable carriage for supportinga removable culture dish, said moveable carriage being mounted on thestationary support and being moveable relative to the magazine from astarting position to an operating position and vice versa; and controlmeans for controlling the operation of the moving means and theoperation of the transfer means, said control means being activated tocontrol the moving means and the transfer means to dispense a discimpregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operatingposition of the carriage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such disc dispensing devices may be used in antibiotic susceptibilitytesting, the agar gel in the culture dish acting as a sterile nutrientmedium for a bacteria colony being analysed. The bacteria colony isintroduced onto the surface of the gel, usually coming from an originalpetri dish (preferably after incubation), and the discs are distributedover the surface of the gel by means of the disc dispensing device. Eachdisc contains a different antibiotic or an antibiotic in a differentconcentration, so that the effect on the bacteria colony of a pluralityof different antibiotics or different concentrations of antibiotics canbe simultaneously studied. The use of impregnated discs in this way iswell known and will not be described further. In addition, as is usualin this technical field, a bacteria colony normally is put in suspensionand brought at the desired concentration before it is transferred to theculture dish. For the sake of simplicity throughout this application theexpression bacteria colony is used, but it will be clear to a personskilled in the art that this term refers to any form in which a bacteriacolony can be brought which is suitable to transfer to a culture dish.In addition, although the expression “disc” is used throughout thisapplication, this expression in the meaning of this application alsorefers to discs having a substantial thickness, and thus alsoencompasses tablets impregnated with antibiotics. In addition the discsneed not have a uniform thickness.

A disc dispensing device of the kind as described above is known fromGB-A-2 001 432. In this known device the discs are stacked one on top ofanother in a plurality of elongate cylindrical cartridges provided in amagazine. The discs are biased to an exit end of the cartridge by meansof an internal coil spring. Any one cartridge contains only discsimpregnated with one particular antibiotic, details of which aredisplayed on the exterior of the cartridge. A culture dish can be placedon a moveable carriage which is moved in an operating position which isat least almost directly positioned underneath the magazine. Aftermanually positioning the culture dish in the starting position andmanually positioning the cartridge in the device the known dispensingdevice further operates almost completely automatic and consequentlyprovides a preparation for a rapid analysis of clinical samples, thusfacilitating its use in situations such as hospitals and laboratorieswhere a considerable number of tests must be made. In the known device adisc is transferred by applying suction to a transfer pipe to therebyhold a disc on the free end of the pipe. The pipe is moved so that thedisc is transferred with the pipe from the pick-up position to areleasing position. Upon termination of the suction applied to the pipethe disc is released on the culture dish. Although this known discdispensing device can operate satisfactorily the internal constructionof the magazine and the suction device to transfer discs from arespective cartridge to a specified position on the culture disc iscomplex and only provides a limited choice in dispensing positions ofdiscs on the culture dish. Furthermore, adaptation of the known discdispensing device to a different bacteria colony present on the culturedish is relatively time consuming, in particular replacing the magazineand replacing the cartridges within the magazine is time consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple and compact discdispensing device, which can be used in a versatile way and which can beadapted quickly to changes in bacteria colonies (in particular changesin the identity of the bacteria colonies) present on a culture dish.

According to the invention at least one of these objects or at leastpart of one of these objects is achieved by providing a disc dispensingdevice for dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics onto a culturedish according to claim 1. Since the plurality of containers isrotatable around a magazine centre under control of the control means itis possible to simplify the construction of the disc dispensing device.

In an embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to the inventionthe operating position is spaced from the centre of the magazine. Byspacing the operating position from the centre of the magazine, theculture dish can be positioned at such a distance from the magazine thathandling and operation, and consequently construction, can besimplified. In addition since there is more space available, additionaldevices can be positioned on the stationary support. For example, it isthus possible to position more carriages around the magazine, such thata plurality of culture dishes can be used at the same time. In additionit is thus possible to use a very large number, e.g. forty-two, oftubular containers and still be able to dispense discs in a relativelyeasy manner on the culture dish. Such a large number of containersallows a vast number of combinations of discs, and consequentlyantibiotics to be used in a susceptibility test, with one and the samemagazine. It is in particular advantageous when the moving means is amoving means for moving one disc from a bottom end of a tubularcontainer to a pick-up position in a radial direction outwardly from thecentre of the magazine.

In a further embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to theinvention the pick up position is fixed relative to the stationarysupport. In this way it is possible to use a transfer means which isrelatively simple of construction. Alternatively the pick up position isdisplaceable relative to the stationary support, but this also entails adisplaceable transfer means.

In order to be able to provide a distributed placement of discs on theculture dish the carriage comprises in an embodiment of a discdispensing device according to the invention means for rotating theculture disc. In this way the culture dish can be rotated so that anumber of discs can be positioned at desired positions on the culturedish. In particular when the transfer means comprises a needle anddisplacing means for displacing the needle in at least one dimension,preferably at least two dimensions and most preferable three dimensions,the discs can be positioned at any place on the culture dish. In orderto assist the release of a disc from the needle the needle may besurrounded by a sleeve which is moveable relative to the needle.

In order to automate the operation as much as possible it is preferredthat the disc dispensing device further comprises culture dishidentifying means for detecting and reading an identifying mark on aculture dish, said culture dish identifying means being connected to thecontrol means for providing a signal indicative of the read identifyingmark of the culture dish to the control means.

Optionally it is advantageous that the disc dispensing device furthercomprises tubular container identifying means for detecting and readingan identifying mark on a tubular container, said tubular containeridentifying means being connected to the control means for providing asignal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubular containerto the control means. It is then advantageous when the control meanscomprises a memory, said control means being adapted for automaticallyor responsive to manual input activating the tubular identifying meansduring rotation of the plurality of containers for reading all thetubular container identifying marks, and being adapted for automaticallyinputting the signals indicative of the read tubular identifying marksinto the memory, indicating the position and content of each of theplurality of tubular containers within the magazine, and wherein saidcontrol means are adapted for controlling the rotation of the pluralityof tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operationof the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based onthe input position and content of each of the plurality of tubularcontainers contained in the memory and based on suitable softwareprograms loaded on a processor of the control means.

Although any known identification means (such as e.g. RFID labels,alphanumerical characters, etc.) can be applied in the inventive devicea very reliable and advantageous embodiment of the invention uses a barcode scanner (also called bar code reader) for detecting and reading theculture dish and/or the tubular containers. In this case the identifyingmark is of course a bar code.

The culture dish identifying mark may contain information which isrelevant for operating the disc dispensing device. Such information mayinclude one or more of the following: the manufacturer of the culturedish, the specific identification number of the culture dish, the agargel present in the culture dish, the identity of the bacteria colonypresent in the culture dish, the original petri dish from which thebacteria culture was transferred, the suspension used, the concentrationof the bacteria colony, the date when the bacteria colony wastransferred to the culture dish, the expiry date before which theculture dish has to be used etc. The tubular container identifying markmay contain information which is relevant for operating the discdispensing device. Such information may include one or more of thefollowing: the manufacturer of the tubular container, the specificidentification number of the tubular container, the number of discscontained in the tubular container, the kind of the antibiotics presentin the tubular container, the concentration of the antibiotics in thetubular container, the date when the discs were placed in the tubularcontainer, the expiry date before which the discs have to be used etc.In addition an identifying mark may not contain this information itselfbut may contain a reference (a so-called key) to a database, anothermemory or external device from which the relevant information may beobtained.

An embodiment of a disc dispensing device according to the invention canoperate in a first automatic operation mode, a so-called stand alonemode, for controlling the rotation of the plurality of tubularcontainers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operation of themoving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based on thesignal indicative of the read identifying mark of the culture dishand/or the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubularcontainer, and based on suitable software programs loaded on a processorof the control means.

Alternatively or additionally the disc dispensing device according tothe invention can operate in a second automatic operation mode, aso-called full automatic mode, when the control means comprises acommunication interface to an external device for sending and receivinginformation to and from said external device, respectively. In thissecond mode the control means is adapted for controlling the rotation ofthe plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish,the operation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfermeans based on the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of theculture dish and/or the signal indicative of the read identifying markof the tubular container, and based on received external information. Inboth the first and second operation mode the control means automaticallyobtains the necessary information to control the operation of the discdispensing device, and thus it is e.g. possible that automatically aselection of discs (i.e. antibiotics) is made, together with e.g. aspecific placement of the discs on the culture dish.

A versatile disc dispensing device is provided in accordance with theinvention in case the disc dispensing device comprises a manual controlpanel, said control means being adapted for operating in a thirdoperation mode in which the control means is overridden by the manualcontrol panel. In this way it is e.g. possible to input in the controlpanel the number and kind of discs that are to be dispensed on theculture dish, and optionally their position thereon when the controlmeans comprises a memory, and when the control panel is adapted forenabling manual input of the position and content of each of theplurality of tubular containers within the magazine into the memory, andwhen the control means are adapted for controlling the rotation of theplurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, theoperation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer meansbased on the input position and content of each of the plurality oftubular containers contained in the memory and based on suitablesoftware programs loaded on a processor of the control means. In thisway it is e.g. possible to use tubular containers in the inventive discdispensing device which do not have identifying marks.

To enable further automation an embodiment of the disc dispensing deviceof the invention further comprises means for automatically removing andplacing a lid from and on a culture dish, respectively, wherein it isadvantageous when the disc dispensing device further comprises aconveyor for conveying a culture dish to and from the moveable carriageand means for automatically transferring a culture dish from themoveable carriage onto the conveyor and vice versa, respectively.

The invention further relates to a tubular container for use in a discdispensing device according to the invention, wherein said tubularcontainer is provided with an identifying mark, said identifying markbeing readable by tubular container identifying means, said identifyingmark referring to and/or containing information at least regarding thecontent of the tubular container. The tubular container identifying markmay contain information which is relevant for operating the discdispensing device or for other purposes. Such information may includeone or more of the following: the manufacturer of the tubular container,the specific identification number of the tubular container, the numberof discs contained in the tubular container, the kind of the antibioticspresent in the tubular container, the concentration of the antibioticsin the tubular container, the date when the discs were placed in thetubular container, the expiry date before which the discs have to beused etc. In addition an identifying mark may not contain thisinformation itself but may contain a reference (a so-called key) to adatabase, another memory or external device from which the relevantinformation may be obtained.

The invention also relates to a method of dispensing discs impregnatedwith antibiotics, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a culture dish in a starting position;

moving said culture dish from the starting position into an operatingposition;

providing a magazine comprising a plurality of tubular containers, eachtubular container containing a stack of discs to be dispensed,

when the culture dish is in the operating position moving one disc froma bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position,

picking up said one disc from the pick-up position, transferring saidone disc to the culture dish and dispensing said one disc onto theculture dish,

controlling the step of moving said culture dish and the step oftransferring said one disc to the culture dish to dispense a discimpregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operatingposition,

characterized in that the method comprises the step of rotating theplurality of tubular containers around a magazine centre when theculture dish is in the operating position. Preferred embodiments of theinventive method are disclosed in the dependent claims.

The inventive disc dispensing device and the inventive method ofdispensing discs provides the possibility to dispense a large number ofdiscs on the culture dish which number is not restricted by the numberof tubular containers used. In this manner susceptibility tests can beperformed with much more variety and choices of antibiotics.

Further objects, features, effects, advantages and details of theinvention are described with reference to examples shown in thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically shows a disc dispensing device in accordance withthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the disc dispensing device 1 isshown which comprises a stationary support 2 which is only partly shown.

A moveable carriage 3 is mounted on the stationary support 2 and has ahorizontal surface 5 for supporting a removable culture dish 4. A means(not shown) is provided on the carriage 3 for securely locating theculture dish 4 on the horizontal surface 5. The culture dish 4 isintended to contain a thin layer of nutrient agar gel (not shown) ontoor into which a bacteria colony under test has previously been seeded orotherwise applied, using known techniques. For example, the bacteriacolony can be transferred in a known manner from an original petri dishonto the culture dish 4. The purpose of the disc dispensing device is todeposit onto the surface of this layer of agar gel an array of spacedsusceptibility discs, each disc being impregnated with a differentantibiotic (in which ‘different’ can also refer to a differentconcentration). Once all the desired or required discs have beendeposited, the culture dish and its contents are removed and placed inan incubator so that the effect of each antibiotic on the bacteriacolony can be assessed. The number of discs and the pattern in whichthey are placed on the agar gel layer can be selected (to be describedlater).

The disc dispensing device 1 further comprises a magazine 6 which isremovably mounted on the stationary support 2.

During operation of the disc dispensing device 1, a central bore 7′(which in this embodiment forms the centre of the magazine 6) of themagazine 6 is mounted on a vertical axle 7. It can be seen in FIG. 1that the magazine 6 comprises a substantially circular housing 8. Theantibiotic discs to be dispensed are contained in a plurality ofindividual tubular containers 9. In the present embodiment forty-twotubular containers are arranged and held by the magazine 6. It will beclear however that in other embodiments of the invention other numbersof tubular containers can be received by the magazine, but relativelylarge numbers, i.e. well above twenty, are preferred. The discs 10 arepiled on top of one another in a stack within each tubular container andare e.g. biased towards the lower end of the container by means of acoil spring 11 and plunger 12. The lower or bottom end of the tubularcontainer is in a known manner provided with an opening such that onesingle disc can be dispensed from the tubular container. Since themagazine 6 is removable it is possible to install different sets oftubular containers containing a wide selection of antibiotics which canbe used to perform the susceptibility test. However, in case forty-twotubular containers are used, replacement of the magazine will be seldomnecessary. Each tubular container 9 can contain an identifying mark 18,in the shown example a bar code, containing (or referring to)information regarding e.g. the kind of antibiotics, the concentration ofthe antibiotics, etc. contained therein.

At the beginning of operation the moveable carriage 3 is positioned onthe stationary support 2 in a starting position 13 indicated by brokenlines. In this starting position 13 a culture dish is placed on thecarriage. Although not shown in the FIGURE a conveyor is present forautomatically conveying a culture dish to the moveable carriage, andalso means for automatically transferring the culture dish from theconveyor onto the carriage are present. Correct placement of the culturedish on the carriage can e.g. be detected by micro-switches or visuallyby an operator. After correct placement has been established a lid whichis usually placed on the culture dish is automatically removed from theculture dish by (not shown) suitable means. Please note that inalternative embodiments conveyance, transfer and removing a lid can takeplace manually. After correct placement has been established thecarriage can be moved towards the magazine 6 into an operating position14 (indicated with solid lines). This movement can be performed by anyknown means, such as for example along rails 15 which are engaged bywheels (not shown) mounted under the carriage. The wheels can be drivenunder control of control means 20. As clearly can be seen in FIG. 1 theoperating position 14 is spaced from the centre 7′ of the magazine 6.

In order to be able to for example trace and identify the culture dish 4and its contents, such as for example the kind of agar gel, the bacteriacolony deposited in the culture dish, and the original petri dish, theculture dish 4 is provided with an identifying mark 17, in the shownexample a bar code containing the relevant information.

In the shown embodiment the carriage 3 comprises means 16 for rotatingthe culture dish 4, which means in this example is formed by arotational shaft 16 on which the culture dish 4 is mounted. Therotational shaft 16 can be activated for giving a rotational movement tothe culture dish 4 at any time after the culture dish is correctlypositioned on the carriage. In any case the rotational shaft 16 needs tobe activated for rotating the culture dish during dispensing of thediscs in the culture dish, thus the culture dish is rotatable when thecarriage is in the operating position. In addition, the disc dispensingdevice 1 comprises culture dish identifying means, in this example inthe form of a bar code reader 19 which is able to read the bar code 17on the culture dish 4, for detecting and identifying the culture dish.This bar code reader 19 is connected to a control means 20 for providinga signal indicative of the identity of the culture dish 4 (and otherrelevant information, such as e.g. its contents) to the control means20. Depending on the position of the bar code reader 19 on thestationary platform 2 the rotational shaft 16 is activated such that thebar code 17 on the culture dish 4 can correctly be read. In the shownembodiment the bar code reader or scanner 19 is positioned such that itcan correctly read the bar code 17 when the culture dish is rotated inthe operating position of the carriage 3.

In a similar way the disc dispensing device 1 can further comprisetubular container identifying means, in this example also in the form ofa bar code reader or scanner 21, for detecting and identifying the barcode 18 on a tubular container 9. This container bar code reader 21 issuitably positioned inside the housing 8 and provides a signalindicative of the read identifying mark, in this case the bar code, ofthe tubular container to the control means 20. This signal can also beused to identify the position of the respective tubular container withinthe magazine 6. Please note that in case the tubular containers are notprovided with identifying marks, it is possible to input the relevantinformation into the control means manually.

It will be clear that although in the described embodiment bar codes andbar code readers are used, it is in other embodiments of the inventionpossible to use other known identifying marks and mark readers. Inaddition in case suitably positioned, e.g. in the lower part of thehousing 8 and on the outer side thereof only one bar code reader issufficient to read both the culture dish bar code and the tubularcontainer bar codes.

To dispense a single disc 10′ impregnated with antibiotics from atubular container 9 the disc dispensing device 1 comprises moving means22 for moving one disc from the lower or bottom end of a tubularcontainer to a pick-up position 23, which is fixed or stationaryrelative to the stationary support 2. The moving means 22 (which arecontrolled by the control means 20) linearly moves the one disc in aradial direction outwardly from the centre of the magazine 7′ towardsthe pick up position 23. Although each tubular container can beassociated with a respective moving means, it is possible to use one andthe same moving means for all the tubular containers.

Since the pick up position 23 is fixed relative to the support 2transfer means 24 comprising a needle 25 for picking up said one discfrom the pick-up position, and for transferring said one disc 10′ to theculture dish 4 can also be positioned in a stationary position on thesupport. The transfer means 24 is controlled by a microprocessor 26which is controlled by the control means 20 for displacing the needle 25in at least one dimension (i.e. in this case upward and downward). Inthis way the needle 25 can be lowered to penetrate the disc 10′ and tohold to disc 10′. Thereafter the needle 25 is raised, the moving means22 is retracted in the direction of the centre of the magazine and theneedle 25 is lowered until the disc 10′ contacts the agar gel. Since thecontact force applied by the agar gel on the disc 10′ is larger than theforce applied by the needle 25, when raising the needle 25 the disc 10′remains behind in the culture dish. However, in order to assist removalof the disc from the needle a moveable sleeve can be arranged around theneedle, which sleeve when lowered, pushes the disc off the needle. Inother embodiments transfer means can be used to displace the needle inat least two and preferably in three dimensions, such that a disc can bepositioned at any specific location on the culture dish 4, therebyallowing much more discs to be placed in a wide variety, improvingsusceptibility tests.

In order to dispense the next disc impregnated with antibiotics theplurality of containers 9 is rotated such around the axle 7 that thecontainer containing the next disc is positioned correctly with respectto the transfer means (and in case of an embodiment using one singlemoving means correctly with respect to this unique moving means). Inaddition the culture dish is rotated to the next position for receivingthis next disc. When the required or desired number of discs is placedon the culture dish, the carriage is moved back to the startingposition, optionally an indication (visual or auditory) is given by thedisc dispensing device, and the means for automatically removing andplacing a lid can put a lid back on the culture dish, whereafter it isautomatically transferred to the conveyor for further processing. Inalternative embodiments the lid can be put back on the culture discmanually, as well as transferring the culture disc for furtherprocessing can take place by an operator in a manual way.

The control means 20 of the disc dispensing device 1 controls theoperation of the components of the disc dispensing device. The controlmeans 20 can be formed by any programmable processor device, and theinvention is not limited to a specific kind of control means, as long asit is able to perform the required functions.

The control means 20 is connected to drive means 27, which drives themovement of the carriage from the starting position to the operatingposition and vice versa, and which also activates the rotational shaft16 in order to rotate the culture dish. Furthermore, the control means20 is connected to a drive 28 for driving the rotation of the pluralityof tubular containers 9 around the axle 7. As mentioned above thecontrol means 20 also controls the operation of the moving means 22, andthe operation of the transfer means 24 via the microprocessor 26 todispense a disc impregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish inthe operating position of the carriage. In addition, as alreadydescribed above the control means 20 is connected to the bar codereaders or scanners 19, 21 to receive information therefrom.

The disc dispensing device 1 comprises a manual control panel 29comprising a number of control buttons 30, and a visual display 31 foramongst other things displaying operational data to an operator of thedisc dispensing device. A communication interface 32 is present toestablish communication between the control means and an external devicefor sending and receiving information to and from said external device,respectively. Such an external device can e.g. be a bacterial colonyidentification device such as a Maldi-tof mass spectrometry machine or apersonal computer.

The disc dispensing device 1 can be operated in at least three differentoperational modes.

In a first operation mode the control means 20 controls the rotation ofthe plurality of tubular containers 9, the rotation of the culture dish4, the operation of the moving means 22 and the operation of thetransfer means 24 based on the signals received from the bar codereaders 19 and (optionally) 21, which signals are indicative of theidentifying mark of the culture dish and of the identifying mark of thetubular container (if present). Based on suitable software programsloaded on a processor of the control means 20, the number of discs, thekind of discs (i.e. the kind of antibiotics), the order of placement ofthe discs and the pattern (including mutual spacing) in which the discsare placed can be selected. Such suitable software programs are commonin the field of susceptibility testing and need no further description.In addition if the tubular containers contain identifying marks thecontrol means control the rotation of the plurality of containers suchthat they are at least fully rotated once so that all the identifyingmarks are read and the relevant information is stored in the memory ofthe control means. Based on this stored information the position of eachtubular container within the plurality and its contents is known.

In a second mode of operation the control means 20 receives suitableinformation via the communication interface 32 from an external device(preferably upon a request sent by the control means 20, in whichrequest information obtained from the read culture dish bar code iscontained). This information is used by the control means 20 to controlthe rotation of the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of theculture dish, the operation of the moving means and the operation of thetransfer means in addition to the signals received from the bar codereaders 19 and 21, which signals are indicative of the identity of theculture dish and of the identity of the tubular container. Again basedon suitable software programs loaded on a processor of the control means20, the number of discs, the kind of discs (i.e. the kind ofantibiotics), the order of placement of the discs and the pattern(including mutual spacing) in which the discs are placed can be selectedin dependence of e.g. the identity of the bacteria colony as receivedfrom a Maldi-tof machine. Such suitable software programs are common inthe field of susceptibility testing and need no further description.

In a third operation mode the automatic control by the control means 20is overridden by input via the manual control panel 29. By using themanual control panel 29 an operator can manually input for example atleast one of the following: the number of discs, the kind of discs, theorder of placement of the discs and the pattern (including mutualspacing) in which the discs are to be placed on the culture dish. Such amanual selection can be performed with and without information from oneor both of the bar code scanners.

With the disc dispensing device as described above it thus is possibleto perform a method of dispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics,said method comprising the steps of providing a culture dish in astarting position; moving said culture dish from the starting positioninto an operating position; providing a magazine comprising a pluralityof tubular containers, each tubular container containing a stack ofdiscs to be dispensed, when the culture dish is in the operatingposition moving one disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to apick-up position, picking up said one disc from the pick-up position,transferring said one disc to the culture dish and dispensing said onedisc onto the culture dish, controlling the step of moving andtransferring to dispense a disc impregnated with antibiotics onto theculture dish in the operating position, and the step of rotating theplurality of tubular containers around a magazine centre when theculture dish is in the operating position. The operating position can beprovided at a position spaced from the centre of the magazine. One disccan be moved from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-upposition in a radial direction outwardly from the centre of themagazine. The pick up position can be in one stationary spatialposition. The culture dish can be rotated. In the method a bacteriacolony is transferred from an original petri dish onto the culture dishand an identifying mark, such as a bar code, is provided on the culturedish. In this culture dish identifying mark information is incorporatedor a reference or key is incorporated from which at least the originalpetri dish, the bacteria colony or the identity of the specific culturedish can be deduced. The identifying mark on the culture dish is readand a signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the culture dishis provided. In each one of the plurality of tubular containers discsare provided which are impregnated with an antibiotic having a propertywhich is different from the property of antibiotics used to impregnatethe discs contained in the other tubular containers of the plurality.Optionally an identifying mark, such as a bar code, is provided on saidtubular container, and in which identifying mark information isincorporated from which at least the kind of antibiotics, theconcentration of the antibiotics or the identity of the specific tubularcontainer can be deduced. The tubular container identifying mark is readand a signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubularcontainer is provided. Based on the information deducible from theculture dish identifying mark the discs to be dispensed from specifictubular containers are chosen. The number of discs to be dispensed onthe culture dish, the tubular containers from which the discs are to betaken and/or the position of each disc on the culture dish canoptionally be chosen by manual input. The plurality of tubularcontainers can be rotated so that all tubular container identifyingmarks are read during said rotation, after which all the signals of theread identifying marks are stored automatically. The number of discs tobe dispensed on the culture dish, the tubular containers from which thediscs are to be taken and/or the position of each disc on the culturedish can be chosen based on the signal indicative of the readidentifying mark of the culture dish and/or on the signal indicative ofthe read identifying mark of the tubular container. The inventive methodfurther provides the possibility to request the identity of the bacteriacolony from an external system. In the method a lid can automatically beremoved from and placed on a culture dish, respectively, whereas alsoconveying and transferring a culture dish to and from the startingposition can be performed automatically.

1-33. (canceled)
 34. Disc dispensing device for dispensing discsimpregnated with antibiotics onto a culture dish, said disc dispensingdevice comprising: a stationary support; a magazine removably mounted onthe stationary support, said magazine being arranged for holding aplurality of tubular containers, each tubular container being adaptedfor containing a stack of discs to be dispensed, moving means for movingone disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up position,transfer means for picking up said one disc from the pick-up position,for transferring said one disc to the culture dish and for dispensingsaid one disc onto the culture dish, a moveable carriage for supportinga removable culture dish, said moveable carriage being mounted on thestationary support and being moveable relative to the magazine from astarting position to an operating position and vice versa, control meansfor controlling the operation of the moving means and the operation ofthe transfer means, said control means being activated to control themoving means and the transfer means to dispense a disc impregnated withantibiotics onto the culture dish in the operating position of thecarriage, wherein the plurality of containers is rotatable around amagazine centre under control of the control means.
 35. Disc dispensingdevice as claimed in claim 34, wherein the operating position is spacedfrom the centre of the magazine.
 36. Disc dispensing device as claimedin claim 34 or 35, wherein the moving means is a moving means for movingone disc from a bottom end of a tubular container to a pick-up positionin a radial direction outwardly from the centre of the magazine. 37.Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 36, wherein the pick upposition is fixed relative to the stationary support.
 38. Discdispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, whereinsaid carriage comprises means for rotating the culture dish.
 39. Discdispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, whereinthe disc dispensing device further comprises culture dish identifyingmeans for detecting and reading an identifying mark on a culture dish,said culture dish identifying means being connected to the control meansfor providing a signal indicative of the read identifying mark of theculture dish to the control means.
 40. Disc dispensing device as claimedin any one of the preceding claims, wherein the disc dispensing devicefurther comprises tubular container identifying means for detecting andreading an identifying mark on a tubular container, said tubularcontainer identifying means being connected to the control means forproviding a signal indicative of the read identifying mark of thetubular container to the control means.
 41. Disc dispensing device asclaimed in claim 40, wherein the control means comprises a memory, saidcontrol means being adapted for automatically or responsive to manualinput activating the tubular identifying means during rotation of theplurality of containers for reading all the tubular containeridentifying marks, and being adapted for automatically inputting thesignals indicative of the read tubular identifying marks into thememory, indicating the position and content of each of the plurality oftubular containers within the magazine, and wherein said control meansare adapted for controlling the rotation of the plurality of tubularcontainers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operation of themoving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based on theinput position and content of each of the plurality of tubularcontainers contained in the memory and based on suitable softwareprograms loaded on a processor of the control means.
 42. Disc dispensingdevice as claimed in claim 39, 40 or 41, wherein the means for detectingand reading comprises a bar code scanner.
 43. Disc dispensing device asclaimed in claim 39, 40, or 41, wherein the control means is adapted foroperating in a first operation mode for controlling the rotation of theplurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culture dish, theoperation of the moving means and/or the operation of the transfer meansbased on the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of theculture dish and/or the signal indicative of the read identifying markof the tubular container, and based on suitable software programs loadedon a processor of the control means.
 44. Disc dispensing device asclaimed in any one of the claim 39, 40, or 41, wherein the control meanscomprises a communication interface to an external device for sendingand receiving information to and from said external device,respectively, said control means being adapted for operating in a secondoperation mode for controlling the rotation of the plurality of tubularcontainers, the rotation of the culture dish, the operation of themoving means and/or the operation of the transfer means based on thesignal indicative of the read identifying mark of the culture dishand/or the signal indicative of the read identifying mark of the tubularcontainer, and based on received external information.
 45. Discdispensing device as claimed in any one of the claim 39, 40, or 41,wherein the disc dispensing device comprises a manual control panel,said control means being adapted for operating in a third operation modefor overriding the automatic control of the control means by the manualcontrol panel.
 46. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 45,wherein the control means comprises a memory, said control panel beingadapted for enabling manual input of the position and content of each ofthe plurality of tubular containers within the magazine into the memory,and wherein said control means are adapted for controlling the rotationof the plurality of tubular containers, the rotation of the culturedish, the operation of the moving means and/or the operation of thetransfer means based on the input position and content of each of theplurality of tubular containers contained in the memory and based onsuitable software programs loaded on a processor of the control means.47. Disc dispensing device as claimed in any one of the precedingclaims, wherein the transfer means comprises a needle and displacingmeans for displacing the needle in at least one dimension, preferably atleast two dimensions, and most preferably in at least three dimensions.48. Disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 47, wherein the needle issurrounded by a sleeve which is movable relative to the needle.
 49. Discdispensing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, furthercomprising means for automatically removing and placing a lid from andon a culture dish, respectively.
 50. Disc dispensing device as claimedin any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a conveyor forconveying a culture dish to and from the moveable carriage and means forautomatically transferring a culture dish from the moveable carriageonto the conveyor and vice versa, respectively.
 51. Tubular containerfor use in a disc dispensing device as claimed in claim 40 or 41,wherein said tubular container is provided with an identifying mark,said identifying mark being readable by tubular container identifyingmeans, said identifying mark referring to and/or containing informationat least regarding the content of the tubular container.
 52. Method ofdispensing discs impregnated with antibiotics, said method comprisingthe steps of: providing a culture dish in a starting position; movingsaid culture dish from the starting position into an operating position;providing a magazine comprising a plurality of tubular containers, eachtubular container containing a stack of discs to be dispensed, when theculture dish is in the operating position moving one disc from a bottomend of a tubular container to a pick-up position, picking up said onedisc from the pick-up position, transferring said one disc to theculture dish and dispensing said one disc onto the culture dish,controlling the step of moving said culture dish and the step oftransferring said one disc to the culture dish to dispense a discimpregnated with antibiotics onto the culture dish in the operatingposition, wherein the method comprises the step of rotating theplurality of tubular containers around a magazine centre when theculture dish is in the operating position.
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